Anniversary
by inslupbanana
Summary: Jane gets in a spot of trouble, Lisbon swoops in to help. Your typical emotional h/c early season 1-ish with a lil bit of wtf and slightly iffy grammar.
1. Chapter 1

Teresa Lisbon was having a good day. The sun was shining, they had no case, Jane was being quiet and her paperwork was almost completed.

Wait a minute, stop, rewind. Jane was being quiet? Sheepdip. That usually meant some ridiculous thing was about happen, especially in the absence of some poor murdered soul to keep the hyperactive dope entertained.

Craning her neck Lisbon half stood from behind her desk, her usual view of Jane's couch obscured by the rather large chest of Wayne Rigsby who at that moment was frantically biting the air- he'd somehow roped the usually stoic Cho into tossing peanuts a few feet into the air, which was of course still within reach of a man of Rigsby's stature.

Sighing she pushed her chair out and stood fully, if the rest of her team were already behaving like teenagers (Van Pelt had apparently wandered off) then who knows what age the consultant had regressed to. It was best to find him now, Minelli always appreciated it when she at least pretended Jane was under her control.

Decisively she pulled open her office door, only for her plans to be foiled by the distinct lack of one Patrick Jane anywhere in sight. Turning to the remaining bozos she put a little of her well-earned authority into her voice, hoping to better draw their attention.

"Hey guys, since you're all so hard at work as usual, I don't suppose you've seen Jane anywhere?" Lisbon's mouth pulled slightly to one side in her usual close-lipped smile, conveying she meant business.

Three things happened at once then as Van Pelt, who at that moment had been scuttling back inside, tried to increase her speed and tripped, splashing coffee everywhere. Including Rigsby's crotch. As a result the man, rather understandably, startled and began to choke on the nut he'd just triumphantly caught.

Above all this mayhem however was the distinct sound of shouting and things breaking from their mini kitchen. Closing her eyes in sheer exasperation Lisbon wasn't sure which disaster to deal with first, that is until the thump of flesh hitting flesh could be heard throughout the bullpen. Well at least now she knew where Jane was.

Flashing a quick glance to Cho, who in his normal capable fashion had already begun to pat Rigsby's back, she raised her eyebrow at him, the quick bob of his head he gave in reply leaving her free to go to the aid of her wayward consultant.

Turning on her heel and waving aside her rookie's apologies Lisbon arrived at the kitchen in a few quick strides but stopped dead in the doorway, uncharacteristically frozen by the sight before her.

Normally Jane cowered (behind her back) at the first sign of violence. Even in his darker moments, those when she truly believed him capable of extracting the revenge he sought, his natural cowardice continued. Here and now though, he just seemed... wrong.

He wasn't hitting back, though she was pretty sure if he did it wouldn't do much anyway, but he stood there with his chin up, as it were, facing his attacker head on. The guy in return, who she vaguely recalled as a member of a first entry SWAT team, was definitely not pulling his punches.

"Hey, HEY" She shouted angrily, striding towards them. Here Jane would usually make some ridiculous comment about her looking like his avenging angel, that is if he weren't too busy getting his face pummelled in.

Stepping in front of him protectively she glared at the man (she now remembered as Mark), who was at least half a foot taller than her, until he dropped his arm shamefully. The anger on his face was receding now, overtaken by mild horror as he apparently realised he'd been wailing on someone who was essentially defenceless.

Raising an eyebrow at him she turned so she could berate them both at once "What the hell is going on he- and Jane had vanished. Of course he had, what was she expecting? Gratitude. Thinking back to the strange expression on his face she realised it was probably better that she catch him alone anyway.

Not that she'd forgotten about the other culprit. "So, Flint", she crossed her arms as her eyebrows knitted together, "Care to enlighten me on your reasons for attacking Jane now, instead of every other time he's annoyed you?"

The man's body language became even more defensive as he spread his arms helplessly "He just came up to me and started having a go at me, told me my wife was cheating on me and my kid doesn't love me." A slightly thoughtful look came over his face then and Lisbon could all of a sudden see where he was going with this "It's almost like he... er wanted me to hit him Agent."

Shaking her head slightly Lisbon frowned at him, carefully calculating the dates in her head, "I don't care if he walked up to you and actually told you to beat him up Flint, that's no excuse. You can be damn sure I'll report this to your supervisor but you can make it easier if you tell me which way he went."

His eyebrows raised but his shameful expression didn't let up as he gestured behind her, to her own office. What the hell was Jane up to?

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	2. Resolution (not)

Patrick Jane was not having a good day. His car had broken down, he'd forgotten his ID and only gotten through because he'd asked about Craig's kid and oh yeah, his beloved wife and daughter were murdered exactly six years ago today.

He just... couldn't do it. After his release from the psychiatric ward he'd found himself freshly energised with mad purpose. Jane never forgot the reason for this purpose of course he just preferred to push it to the back of his mind. Which on a day like today, just wasn't an option.

They were his good and his purity in this twisted, corrupted world and without them he was just a desperate, furious shell seeking vengeance.

He could pretend he was fine with this as much as he liked, most didn't notice but there were always those select few like Lisbon who could catch shrewd glimpses of the corner of the puzzle. Perhaps if they were truly unlucky he'd show them exactly what he was capable of but sometimes, like now, he just wasn't up to it.

Curled over on his second-favourite sofa, the rather bruised man contemplated his reasoning, or rather lack of, for coming in today.

Subconsciously he thinks he had wanted company. To see Lisbon's irritated frown, Grace's concerned hovering combined with Rigsby's puppy-dog eyes and maybe even Cho's complete lack of expression.

Of course as his conscious brain was too busy grieving the rest of him took his body, along with it's disturbed mind, to work anyway. For a moment he'd even considered that to not be a bad thing, maybe a little bit of socialising, some practice of his more complicated tricks on an easily bewildered Rigsby, would make this whole thing simpler.

He should've realised he was fooling himself. Only a few hours in and he'd heard someone complaining about paying child support to their ex and all that anger he usually kept well hidden just... overtook him completely. He'd cornered the nearest guy who had a kid and ripped into him until he'd received a physical beating to match the emotional one he was already giving himself.

There were so many people out there who hurt their kids or ignored their kids, or like unsuspecting Mark Flint, just wouldn't fully realise the gift they had until it was gone. Jane may have been a selfish con-man but surely there were others worse than him, why was it _him_ that had to have only good in his life torn away from him in such a cruel fashion.

Approaching footsteps drew the anguished consultant out of the dark hole his mind had slowly been sinking further into and he knew there could only be one person about to stride through the dark wooden door across from him.

Straightening up and smoothing down the unruly curls he'd been clutching Jane turned, time to face the music.

Lisbon for her part had used the short time it'd taken her to cross the bullpen to her office to contemplate the potential reasons for her consultant's behaviour. There was no denying that he did strange things on a frequent basis but this was a little out there, even for him. Not only was he typically unappreciative (understatement) of physical altercations, she also knew that while he could and would antagonise people for the fun of it, he'd rarely take it so far unless it served another purpose.

That meant that for Jane to have deliberately provoked Flint into hurting him something had to be seriously wrong. That last and undeniably worrying thought cause Lisbon to come to a complete stop in front of her own office. Patrick Jane was difficult to deal with on a normal day and though Lisbon usually considered herself to be good at reading people, the amount of facades he had were an entirely different story.

So what she needed here was more than a plan of action, she needed a full on army if she had any hope of bringing down his defences. Otherwise all that would come from this incident was Lisbon receiving yet another reprimand for Minelli concerning her inability to control the consultant attached to her team, as if he were a dog she'd made the mistake of letting of her lease. Despite the fact that Jane was the one who'd technically come off worse in this situation, everyone around the office was becoming wiser to his innocent act.

Lisbon at that point must have hesitated too long because she started when her consultant let out a drawn out groan from behind the door. This was followed by his signature mellow voice "Come in already Lisbon, we can't have you standing around out there all day or someone might start to think that someone was wrong."

The almost sarcastic lilt in his tone was hard to mistake though for now she was going to ignore it in favour of opening the door and having a proper conversation. Sadly this idea didn't seem to do much as she grasped the cool metal of the doorknob but couldn't bring herself to fully turn it, some animal instinct trying to warn her of the monster she would find within.

Okay, now she was just being ridiculous. Rolling her eyes at her own brain she gathered her resolve and pushed the door open, how bad could it be?


End file.
